Ever since I read the book back in
2011, I have been waiting for its visual adaptation. 'Ready Player One' written
by Ernest Cline had transported me to an amazingly fresh and imaginative world that
took me on a ridiculously fun & quest-filled ride. I remember reading it
and thinking to myself that this is like a treasure-trove of 80's nostalgia,
covering everything from 'Back to the Future' to Roald Dahl.
My headlong love affair with movies
started ever since I saw the Hindi dubbed version of Jurassic Park way back in
1994, when I was 5. I didn't understand much of what was happening on
screen, but I sure was really fascinated by it. That was the first non-Indian
movie I ever saw in a theater, and I was completely blown away!
So imagine my happiness when couple of
years ago it was announced that none other than Steven Spielberg was going to
adapt this into a movie! He may not be a so-called "auteur filmmaker",
but there's no denying that he knows how to pull the heart strings and take the
audience on a magical journey, and that's exactly the kind of filmmaker this
movie needed. Whether it's E.T - The Extra-Terrestrial, Indiana Jones or Saving
Private Ryan, Spielberg has always managed to take the audience on an adventurous
ride, filled with emotional scenes, artistic long takes, haunting music,
masterful scene transitions and beautifully choreographed camera movements, in
short he has given us many of the most iconic moments in cinema history.
So now you know how badly I was
waiting for 'Ready Player One' to release here in India. Had booked my tickets
in IMAX and was eagerly counting down the seconds, when suddenly rumours started coming in that the movie for some 'unknown reasons' is getting delayed/postponed!
That sure felt like a gut-punch by
Warner Bros. For no rhyme or reason, WB had all of a sudden decided to cancel
all shows all over India a day before the official release (except for a
handful of theatres where the movie was distributed by SPI Cinemas).
No official statements were issued
by WB or WB India (It's been 5 days and they still haven't), and for some weird
reason, none of the major news outlets in India are covering this. All of them
are/were busy covering Christopher Nolan's arrival in India, and I don't blame
them. But now that he's gone, I guess you guys can help us out a bit, and get some response
out of the studio if possible.
There have been lots of rumours
floating around, from distribution disputes to censor issues to delay/errors in
KDM ('Key Delivery Message' is a special electronic key that contains a code
which unlocks an encrypted film), but a source has said that this might all be
happening because of infighting within WB. And that there is also a very strong
possibility the movie won't get a WIDE release now in India, as WB has already
started their marketing & PR campaign for their next major release that's
happening on 13th April (Rampage).
I sincerely hope someone from WB
takes notice and decides to do something about this and gets the movie released
here.
"Every time I go to a movie, it's magic, no matter
what the movie's about."
- Steven Spielberg
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